Background
Barbey D'Aurevilly was a superlative survival of the Romantics in both his dandified dress and his writings. He wrote poetry, biography, fiction, and criticism and was known as the "Walter Scott of Normandy," as well as "Constable of Letters." His poetry is not outstanding, and he was too erratic, undisciplined, and dogmatic to be among the best of critics. As a writer of fiction, however, he merits attention. His style has been described as a "mixture of tiger's blood and honey," and his bizarre imagination has a love for the sinister, the blasphemous, and the diabolical. The sadistic imagination, the prevalence of rape and incest, and the satanic mysticism of his novels brought down on him the severe displeasure of the church, though he persisted in declaring his piety. His unbridled fancy was incapable of anything but the extravagant. In later years he became a more pronounced reactionary, fighting the growth of realism, "Art for Art's sake," and the bluestockings. Outstanding among his voluminous writings are AmaïdéeAmaidee (1890), Ce qui ne meurt pas (1884) (English translation, formerly attributed to Oscar Wilde, What Never Dies, 1909), Du dandysme et de G. Brummell (1842-1851) (The Anatomy of Dandyism with some Observations on Beau Brummel, 1928), Une vieille maîtressemaitresse (1851) ("An Old Mistress"), L'EnsorceléeL'Ensorcelee (1854) (Bewitched, 1928), Un PrêtrePretre mariémarie (1865) ("A Married Priest"), Les Diaboliques (1874) (The Diaboliques, 1925), and Une Histoire sans nom (1882) (A Story Without a Name, 1891).